Individual behaviour &

understanding self

Transactional Analysis

• It is technique to understand the dynamics of self & its relationship to others . It provide method & approach of analyzing & understanding interpersonal behaviour.

• “ when two people interact ,there is social transaction in which one person responds to another .the study of such transaction between people is called transactional analysis”

• “it is the study of social transaction between people. It is technique used to help people better to understand their own & others behaviour. ”

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History of transactional analysis• Dr.Eric Berne is the pioneer of transactional analysis• Origin of TA concept happened in 1951 when Dr. wilder

Penfield,(neurosurgeon from McGill university)experimenting on the brain of middle aged patient.

• As the electrode touched a particular spot in the brain. the patient will explain the history of his life.

• Dr.wilder Penfield concluded that all our experience associated with event get locked in our memory & brain act as tape recorder.

• During the development Dr.Berne observed that people changes in movements ,gesture ,facial expression ,posture, communication pattern ,appearance , tone of voice etc . as they move through the life.

• He discovered that there are three ego state in the structure of human personality parent state(P),adult state(A),child state( C)

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Transactional Analysis /Ego state

The three ego states1. Parent

Critical parentSympathetic/nurturing parent

2. ChildNatural child (affectionate playful)Adapted child

• Compliant child• Rebellious child

The little professor3. Adult

Parent Ego State• It refers to taught concept• It is represented by controlling & authoritarian behavior of individual.• People receive from their parents ,elder sister & brothers, teachers &

others during their early childhood.• This massage were stored as records in the mind of an individual from

the childhood time .hence person will operate from parent ego-state.• Two types of parent ego

1. Nurturing parent• Individual personality who is thoughtful , caring ,loving,

protective ,sympathetic , concerned & defensive to others.• Give advice & guidance it also encourage & support others.

2. Critical parent• It provide direction for others• They behave in a very dogmatic & controlling way• They lay down rules & laws for others• Evaluative behaviour in interaction with others

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Adult Ego State• Adult ego reflect “thought” concept• No emotion in this state • He collects the fact & data from the outer environment

& process it & based on which he takes the decision• The decision taken from this ego state are factual &

based on current situation & past experience. • This ego state can be identified by verbal & physical sign

which include thoughtful concentration & realistic discussion .

• Example• A student giving presentation on the project developed

by him.• HR manager taking decision of selecting & rejecting a

candidate after interviewing him6

Child Ego State

• It contain the desire & attitude learnt from the child experience• This state represented by emotion ,feelings, creativity,

curiosity ,energy , spontaneous & impulsive component of personality.

• This state characterized by immature & kiddish behaviour.• Take immediate action without thinking & they want immediate

satisfaction• The feeling of frustration , insufficiency & helplessness are also the

result of child ego state• Three types of child ego state

1. Natural child– It is open child. he is spontaneous & joyful– He is affectionate ,self-centered & aggressive & emerges in a

repulsive role2. The little professor– This state is intuitive ,artistic ,spontaneous , untaught ,

snooping– This state gives brilliant & non-logical insights for solving

problems. 7

3. Adapted child– This is complying ,retreating ,procrastinating ,

scared ,guilty– Acts as parent expectationTypes of Adapted child1. Compliant child– He is act in accordance with parental expectation2. Rebellious child– This state characters by negativity ,rebellions &

disobedient– Sometimes gets indulge into fight & unnecessary

talks which may lead to anger ,fear & frustration

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Characteristics of parent ,child ,adult

• Parent ego– Rules & laws, do’s & don’ts , truths , tradition ,teaching ,

demonstrating .

• Adult ego– Rationality , evaluation , storing of data, exploring ,testing

• Child ego– Seeing ,hearing , touching experiencing joy ,frustration ,

wishing , fantasizing , feeling internally

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Eric Berne and Transactional Analysis

•Transactional analysis provides better understanding of how people related to each other

•It helps in establishing better communication & improved human relationship

•Its useful tool for helping people to understand & improve their interaction in their professional as well as personal lives.

•Individual can decide how any transaction should develop

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Types of TransactionsThe three types of transactions

1. Complementary2. Crossed3. Ulterior

1.Complementary Transactions:• Appropriate and Expected Transactions indicating

healthy human relationships.• Communication takes place when transactions are

complementary. A stimulus invites a response; this response becomes a stimulus inviting further response and so on.

• In this type of transaction stimulus & response line are parallel

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Complementary Transactions

Complementary transaction

Mr.X Mr.Y

Mr.X-what is the time please?Mr.Y- it is 10.45 pm.

P

CA

P

CA

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2.Crossed transaction A leader in the adult ego state deals with A subordinate who responds from their free child

ego state with somewhat negative, rejecting input from the leader

• A crossed transaction occurs when a massage sent from a specific ego state of one person receive an unexpected response from the other person some other ego state

• Crossed transaction are the cause of many interpersonal conflicts & person might get upset & frustrated .

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2.Crossed transaction

Supervisor Employee

Supervisor- how many units have made by now?(A-A)

employee- don’t disturb me ;when I complete it ,I will let you

know about it.

P

CA

P

CA

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Eric Berne and Transactional Analysis

For a leader-follower, there are a number of possible crossed transactions:

3.Ulterior Transaction

• This communication has double meaning .at the surface level there is a clear adult message .whereas, there is hidden message on psychological level.

• In this transaction sender tries to shows that he is speaking from a specific ego state but actually he is secretly using another ego state to send hidden massage to the receiver

• It involves two ego state on the sender side where one is hidden & another is visible.

• Here person say something from adult ego state but he means something from parent ego state.

• Ex.– boss to his employees :-if you want growth & promotion in the job then

you should always put extra efforts in your work. internal massage that he wants his employees to work after office house hours also & do not ask for the leaves

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Ulterior transaction

Supervisor Employee

Supervisor Employee

P

CA

P

CA

P

CA

P

CA

Johari windows• It is developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft & harry

Ingham in 1955.• Name of this windows based on Joseph Luft & Harry• this window helps an individual to know his values & beliefs

& to understand himself in better way.• Popular model to analyze the cause of interpersonal conflicts

& increase mutual understanding within the orgenisation .• According to Joseph & harry the more we share ourselves

with other, the more we can expand our interpersonal relationship.

• This model used for to asses & improve a groups relationship with other groups.

• Assumptions1. The level to which an individual know himself2. The level to which an individual is known to others

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Open Area Blind Area

Hidden Area Unknown Area

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Feedback

known to self Not known to selfdisclouser

Not known to others

Known to others

Johari windows

Johari windows consist of four parts 1. Open area:

– Johari region 1 is known as the ‘area of free activity’ – It consist information about you , your values & beliefs & your

experience which are known to people around you– Here friendship & mutual understanding amongst people

grow & is highest in this area by sharing information with other people they come closer to you

– Helps in reducing conflicts to almost zero percent

2. Blind area– The things about an individual that are known to others but

not to self– Blind area reduces when other those who are observing you

tells you about this habit.– Blind reduces as you start understanding yourself ,your

positive & negative points ,your strengths & weakness etc.– Reduce of this area from personality of an individuals the

chances of inter-personal conflicts also reduces.

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3. Hidden area– It consist things about an individual that are known to self

but are hidden from the people in the surroundings– People keep some secrets about themselves like some

incidences ,experience ,their like & dislike etc because they are scared that if their friends or family come to know about these details then they might make fun of him .

– This area leads to inter-personal conflict. this area can be reduced if you reduce the number of secret & try too open up.

4. Unknown area– It include values ,beliefs & the things about you which are

not known to you & others.– This is most volatile area – Here the person doesn’t know about himself because of

lack of experience & it is not known to other because it is part of personality.

– Highly interpersonal conflict– This area can be reduced by exchanging thoughts ,sharing

experience

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Johari window is a tool to conflict resolution• Johari model is referred as a ‘disclosure/feedback model of

self awareness’• Johari windows represent information – feelings, experience ,

views, attitude ,skills ,intention ,motivation etc, within or about a person in relations to their group.

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information known to everyone share Feedback

knowledge belongs only to others

knowledge belongs only to self

knowledge acquired by learning together

What we know & what they know

What we know & they do not know

What they know & we not know

What we know & what they do not know

• Interpersonal conflicts arises due to cross cultural barriers like

1. Difference among perception 2. By tone difference 3. Caused by semantics4. Caused by word imply different thing in different language.

• Conflicts can reduced by• By increasing open area in johari windows ; by sharing more

information with others • We must sensitive of other feelings . while interacting with

other correct word must chosen.• Johari window helps in establishing communication & the way

of talking with others 23

• Self Disclosure-How to increase open area in johari windows– The process of enlarging the open quadrant vertically is called self

disclosure– as information shared ,the boundary with hidden quadrant moves

downwards & as other people – Feedback develops the open area by reducing the blind area – The unknown area can be reduced in different ways ;by other

observation (which increase the blind area) by self discovery (which increase the hidden area)

– New team members start with relatively small open areas because relatively little knowledge about the new team member is shared .

– Open area expanded horizontally into the blind space ,by seeking & actively listening feedback from others known as ‘Feedback solicitation’

– Group member also help a person expand their open area by asking the person about him/herself

– Manager also give direct feedback about their blind areas– Discovery through sensitive communication ,active listening & experience

will reduce the unknown area 24

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Life Positions

I’m OK — I’m OK —You’re not OK You’re OK

I’m not OK — I’m not OK —You’re not OK You’re OK

Attit

ude

towa

rd O

nese

lf

Attitude toward Others

Negative Positive

Positive

Negative

1. I am OK you are not OK –aggressive In this life position an individual has perception that I

am always right they operates from high ‘critical parent’ &

‘rebellious child 'ego state If there is an disagreement they may react strongly

2. I am not OK you are OK-Passive Here individual is quite compliant & submissive Innovativeness is less Not taking risky responsibility Operate mostly from ‘compliant child’ ego state

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3 . I am not OK you are not OK-Passive –aggressive It is destructive life position They feel helpless ,depressed They don’t trust others operates from very low 'Adult ego’

4 . I am OK you are OK- assertiveness The speaker state without violating the right of

other It is mostly healthy position High emotional intelligence They trust others & express confidence in self. They are ‘nurturing parent', adult & ‘happy child’

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Stroking • A stroke is a unit of recognition which may be positive or

negative.• A stroke is defined as any act implying recognition of another

presence.• The stroking is positive or negative or combination of both• If we feel good it is positive stroke & reverse is negative

stroke.• Example of positive & negative combination stroke is

supervisor comment to a workers act “you did excellent inspite of your small amount of experience in the field ”

• To improve relationship with other people TA teaches two things1. You can seek out ways to give more positive stroke so others know

how we feel about them as people2. We can listen carefully to the stroke others give us

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Benefits Of TA• Provide fresh insight into the psychological make-up of the

individual concerned • Inter-personal communication is improved • Inter-personal relation are improved• Helps to develop leadership skills among the people

• Limitation of TA• Difficult to understand ego state & transaction between

people in practice• Some people use this tool to manipulate the behaviour of

other.• TA tends to encourage “amateur psychologising” if applied

carelessaly

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